We just had our first icing admonition in the Twin Cities this week , while other parts of the state had their first freezing monition . We even had snow showers along the Gunflint Trail in northern Minnesota . With the temperature dropping and the grow time of year add up to an end , it has us northerly nurseryman scrambling to preserve everything left in our garden before it ’s all lost . Andone of the simplest and most uncouth method for quickly preserving fresh garden produce is to freeze it .
Here are five tips and prank for successfully freezing your harvesting .
Quality Matters When You Freeze Produce
Only freeze refreshful produce that does n’t show any signs of damage or spoil .
Pick the Right Container
When freezing liquid ( such as soups and sauce ) , use containers with consecutive ridged side or wide mouthpiece glass jar . When liquidness freeze , they exposit upward and outward .
Glass jars with shoulder joint tend to break more often from expanding upon because , as the liquid block and pushes upwards , it crack the shoulder off the jar . This is also why you must leave headspace when freeze down liquids .
Leave at least 1 in of headspace for pint size containers and 2 inches for quart size container .
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Blanching Is Better (Though Not Required)
Blanching is not a requirement but does lean to keep back better colour , spirit , texture and nutrients in vegetables compared to when frigid altogether . Blanching is not required for fruit.rasica/AdobeStock
blanch is recommended for nearly all vegetables by the National Center for Home Food Preservation .
Flash Freeze Your Berries
A tip for freezing Chuck Berry is to severally quick block them , also refer to as “ blink freezing ” . Wash them , dry them wholly and lie in the Berry in a exclusive stratum on a sheepskin paper - lined pan or dish .
Put the fruit in the freezer to freeze solid and once frozen solid , consolidate the frozen berries into a freezer udder or other container . This appropriate you to pour out the phone number of berry you need , versus make a blob of rooted Charles Edward Berry - mess to thaw out .
This same method acting works for slice up pepper , beans , chopped rhubarb , grapes , etc .
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Package Properly
Proper packaging is key to deflect freezer burning . Freezer burning appears when gentle wind flummox to the solid food and moisture vaporize . To avoid freezer burn , utilize Deepfreeze handbag and remove as much aviation as possible from the bag before sealing and freeze . you could also use containers specifically designed for freezing , straight sided jars or ( even better ) a vacuity sealer.bravissimos/AdobeStock
frosty produce that ’s continually kept at a temperature of 0 ° F or blue should keep for many , many years if sealed in good order .
For more information on freezing and right blanching time , chit-chat theNational Center for Home Food Preservation .
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